CQC inspect Lancaster care provider

An adult social care provider in Lancaster has been told it must make improvements to some of its services.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) carried out unannounced inspections at Heritage Homecare, based at Riverway House in Morecambe Road, on September 25 and October 12 2015.

At the time of the CQC inspection Lancashire County Council had put an action plan in place to address concerns that had been raised.

Inspectors found that the company was co-operating to address these issues but did not have arrrangements in place to monitor, assess, evaluate and improve the quality of care people received.

The report said that people receiving care said staff were very good at their jobs.

Comments included: “The staff have been great, energetic, fun, some are quieter, shy.” And: “Staff are eager to help, easy to talk to and I can laugh with them.” However inspectors were also told that staff had been late.

One person said: “ Staff are not usually late,” while another stated: “Staff can be a bit late and I don’t get a phone call to say that they will be late.”

However all staff inspectors spoke to felt they had time to attend to the people on their rotas, staffing levels were appropriate to meet the needs of the people being supported, and people were given the support they needed with medicines as directed within the care plans.

Other findings included that staff listened to and respected people’s wishes on how they wanted to be supported and encouraged people to be as independent as possible, however care plans had not been reviewed and updated regularly.

The CQC also found that where complaints had been received they had not always been fully recorded.

This did not allow an audit trail from complaint to resolution for the service to make improvements from lessons learnt.

The CQC’s overall rating for Heritage Homecare, which at the time of the inspection provided home care for 60 people, was that it requires improvement.

The service was found to require improvement in safety, care, responsiveness and leadership, but was found to be good in terms of effectiveness.